Here's the link to a very interesting historical description of barbers, barber shops, and barber practices! (P.S. My dad himself was a Sicilian barber.)
Since I'm B&B's official historian (really!!) I thought I'd point out a few related pages in B&B's ShaveWiki.
The History of Shaving doesn't have much in it that's not in the article above. Yet! But there are some interesting links near the bottom of the page.
The History of B&B Old barbering manuals